Skylight-cover



(No Model.) I .7

J. W. SHAW.

SKYLIGHT COVER. I

Patented 0011.26, 1886.

W j/iiijf ATTORNEYS.

N. PETERS. Phuwumo n ner. Wzshinghn. 0'0.

I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFicE.

JAMES WEsLEY SUHAW, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

SKYLIGHT-COVER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 351,533, dated October26, 1886.

Application filed July 23 1886. Serial No. 208,862. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JAMES WEsLEY SHAW, of Baltimore, State ofMaryland,have invented new and Improved Skylight Oovers, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to covers for skylights, and has for its object toprotect the skylights from damage by the heat or flying embers fromadjacent burning buildings, and thus prevent spreading of fire by way ofthe skylights of buildings; and also toprotect the skylights from hailorother storms, and to provide simple,inexpensive,and effective means forquickly and easily shifting the covers over the skylights when occasionrequires.

The invention consists in certain novel features of construction andcombination of parts of the skylightcovers and their operatingmechanism, all as hereinafter fully described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming apart ofthis specification, in which similar letters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical sectional elevation of the skylightfitted with my improved covers, which are open. Fig.2 is a perspectiveview showing the covers closed over the skylight. Fig. 3 is across-sectional elevation taken on the line at m, Fig. 1. Fig. 4. is aside elevation of a modified construction of the covers, one of the pairof covers being openand the other closed; and Fig. .5 shows a hingedcover arranged over a flat skylight.

I prefer to make the covers of large skylights in two sections, A B,which havejournaled at their opposite sides two pairs of rollers, a b,respectively, which are arranged to travel above and below metalguide-rails O D, supported from the roof E of a building by suitablemetal brackets, c d, as clearly shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 of thedrawings, and to which the description of the invention will at presentbe confined.

The skylight F shown is of the ordinary gable .or double inclinedpattern, and thetops of the covers A B are shaped correspondingly at thetop and have closedends a b, which stand outside of the ends of theskylight when the covers are closed over it, and the covers are deep enough to extend nearly down to the roof E to give ample protection to theframe G on which the skylight rests, and as will be understood from thedrawings.

The rollers a b of the covers A B preferably have flanges at each sideof their peripheries,

to keep them on the rails G D, and the arrangement of the rollers inpairs at opposite sides or edges of the rails insures a positive, true,and easy movement of the covers along the rails to cover or uncovertheskylight; but the covers may have cleats fitted to slide on the railsinstead of the rollers, as above described. The covers may be shiftedeither way directly by hand, and may be locked open or closed by anysuitable latch devices; but I propose to operate them from inside the.building below the roof, and for this purpose each of the covers A B hasattached to the inner face 'of its outer end,by an eye, .h, orotherwise, a rope or chain, H, which passes inward through the end ofthe skylight-frame and over a pulley, h,

fixed thereto,and hangs down within reach of a person on the upperfloor; or it may be on any lower floor of the building. To the outerface of the end of each of the covers A B there is fixed, by means of aneye or staple, z, the end and allow free ventilation by raising theskylight or opening parts of'it in any approved way, and that by pullingon the pendent ends of the ropes H the covers A B will be closed toprevent injury to the skylight by hailstorms, or to prevent cracking ofthe glass or breaking of the skylight by the heat from an adjacentburning building, or the falling of burning embers so common in cases offire, and whereby the communication of fire from one building to anotherin this way will be prevented and life and property will be pro tectedfar better than when no effective cover or shield is provided for theskylight.

Instead of the skylight-covers A B being arranged to slide as in Figs.1, 2, and 3, they may be hinged to the skylight-frame G or to the roofE, as shown at Kin Fig. 4 of the drawings, the pull-ropes H I in thiscase being connected at h i to the inner and outer faces of the ends ofthe covers in places giving proper leverage for swinging-the covers shutby pulling on the pendent ends of the ropes H and for swinging thecovers open by pulling on the ropes I.

Fig. 5 shows how a common fiat skylight may be protected by a flatcover, L, hinged at Ztothe skylight-frame and arranged to be swung downover the skylight by pulling on a pendent rope, H, and to be swungbackward clear of the skylight by pulling on the pendent end of a rope,I, as will be understood from the aforesaid description.

I do not limit myself to any particular size or design of theskylight-covers, as these fea tures of construction may vary with thesizes and forms of the skylight, which widely differ in buildings ofdifferent construction.

The entire skylight-covers and mechanism for operating them,whereexposed to adjacent fires, will be made of any suitable fire-proofmaterial, metal, or wood metal-lined, being at present preferred.

Should the sliding skylightcover be made in a single piece or section,the supportingrails G D will extend only at one end or side of theskylight-frame, as will readily be understood.

I am aware that a burglar-proof skylight has been formed with a gratinghaving a slidingsection to be locked. The skylight had pivoted sideglazed windows, and the top part of the skylight had an opening overwhich a cover having rollers running on the roof was adapted to slide.In my construction the e11- tire opening for the skylight is covered,sothat the heat from burning buildings cannot crack the glass and sparksenter the house. As the rollers embrace the rails, the cover cannot beblown off, as might be the case if the rollers rested simply on topedges of skylight.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, iso 1. The combination, with askylight, of rails at opposite sides thereof, a cover inclosing thesides, ends, and top of the skylight framing and having rollersembracing the said rails, substantially as set forth. 5 5

2. The combination, with the skylight, of supports at opposite sidesthereof, rails on said supports, a sectional cover having rollers on theinner faces of its sides receiving the rails between them, the outerends of the sections being apertured for the passage of the rails, andthe operating-cords extending within the building, substantially as setforth.

3. The combination, with the skylight, of the supports 0 d, at oppositesides thereof, the rails O D on the supports, pulleys J, mounted onsupports between the end supports,cd, the sections A B of the coverhaving apertures in their outer ends through which the rails pass,rollers a b, receiving the rails between them, pulleys hi 011 the innerend faces of the skylight, strands I, secured to the endsot' thecover-sections, passed around pulleys J J and inward and over pulleyst", and strands H, secured to the ends of the sections and extendinginward and over the pulleys h, substantially as set forth.

JAMES WESLEY SI-IAWV.

Witnesses:

GEO. W. KREIs, DAVID W. SHAW.

